The New Colossus
Not like the brazen giant of Greek fame,
With conquering limbs astride from land to land;
Here at our sea-washed, sunset gates shall stand
A mighty woman with a torch, whose flame
Is the imprisoned lightning, and her name
Mother of Exiles. From her beacon-hand
Glows world-wide welcome; her mild eyes command
The air-bridged harbor that twin cities frame.
“Keep ancient lands, your storied pomp!” cries she
With silent lips. “Give me your tired, your poor,
Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free,
The wretched refuse of your teeming shore.
Send these, the homeless, tempest-tost to me,
I lift my lamp beside the golden door!”
–Emma Lazarua
We will say this again. This is not about politics or party lines. We have voted all sides of the aisle. We are not whiny, sore losers. This isn’t about any side winning or losing. We love our country and we believe in democracy. We also understand the importance of vetting and that there are certainly discussions, debates and conversations to be had as they pertain to immigration laws. But that’s just it – there should be debate, conversations and discussions. The events that have transpired in the past few days, are a travesty and should scare us all.
We don’t like to wade into politics in our blog space, but one of the very foundations of our blog from day one, was to teach our children about cultures around the world. To open them to histories, stories and traditions beyond our borders. And frankly, we are mad as hell and above all, we are sad.
We are immigrants. We are all immigrants. In fact, a line of our family can be traced back to having faced religious persecution in Europe and to America opening its arms wide to receive them. And that’s the one family line we know about. We all have our stories. We all have our histories. 
In the last year, we spent a significant amount of time studying the histories of others, as well as histories of the Americans that came before us – fighting for freedoms, fighting for the rights of those that could not fight for themselves; and to say there are lessons to be learned is an understatement.
And what lessons did a seven year old take from learning about the Berlin Wall?
And do we really need reminders of what happens when a tyrannical, bigot, expert in propaganda wages a war on those holding certain religious beliefs?
We could go on, and passionately, about the injustices underway, about the dangers these policies are paving the way for, and how our very Constitutional values are under siege. By closing doors and hiding behind fear, we would have so many holes in our lives which are filled by friends, family and colleagues, all immigrants to this amazing country. Think about the enormity of that.
We will not let this happen quietly. We will find ways to take action – and not blue action or red action, right or left action – American action. Human action. We all have names.
But for now we’ll leave you with this…
Had this un-American ban been in place, this beautiful moment between Miss A and a classmate newly arrived from Yemen would not have been possible.
How many other beautiful moments would not have been possible? How many will now not be possible?
Eat, Play, Love 